


The Letter

by LiraelClayr007



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, Letters, Memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-24 19:42:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17710379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiraelClayr007/pseuds/LiraelClayr007
Summary: The Doctor finds a letter left in the TARDIS library long ago, and she is swept away in a sea of memories.





	The Letter

“Hey, Doc,” Graham calls, pushing open the door to the library. “You busy? Yaz and Ryan are asking for another trip to that Dr. Seuss planet. What’s it called? Bravia? Brovio? Oh, you know the one, we’ve been there five times already, where as soon as you step out of the TARDIS you start speaking in iambic pentameter? I like all the crazy colors fine, but it’s a bit disturbing to suddenly be a po--” He stops short, noticing the Doctor for the first time.

“Doc?” He crosses the room in a few strides, sitting on the ottoman at the foot of her armchair.

The Doctor surreptitiously rubs the back of a hand across her cheeks, attempting to wipe away the evidence of her tears. “It’s nothing,” she says.

“And I’m William Shakespeare,” Graham quips.

Suddenly animated, she says, “Do you want to meet Shakespeare? I’ve met him loads of times. Fun bloke. We could go see  _ Twelfth Night _ , that’s always good for a--”

Graham holds up a hand. “Stop. Please, just stop. No deflecting. You’re always helping everyone else, Doc. It’s okay to let someone help you once in awhile. Even if it’s just a conversation.”

She gives a teary laugh. “You know you’re not  _ my _ grandad, right? I’m the elder in this room. By a thousand years or so.”

He’d known that, of course, but he forgets sometimes. Ancient alien in a pint-sized package.

He pats his knee and says with a grin, “Come on, Doc. Tell grandad your problems.”

“Well when you put it that way…” There’s no smile on her face, but it’s in her voice. Her eyes flit around the room and her hands fiddle with something in her lap. An envelope. He hadn’t noticed it before.

“It isn’t a problem,” she says, her voice soft. “I’ve just had a letter, is all. A letter from someone I haven’t seen in a long, long time.”

He doesn’t say anything, just allows her to gather her thoughts. But he can’t help but wonder. Exactly how long is a long time to someone like the Doctor?

“She left it for me in a book, one of my favorite books, so I’d find it. And I did...it just took a bit longer than she expected. It’s nothing much, really, nothing she didn’t say to me all the time. But it just… Seeing her handwriting again after all these years, reading the words in her voice...it made me remember. All our adventures, all the times in between. I used to read to her, right here in this room. It looked a little different then; there was a big cozy sofa in front of the fireplace, and she often fell asleep curled up next to me, just listening to the sound of my voice.”

She stares off again, and Graham knows she’s not really with him anymore. He waits.

Wiping away a fresh tear, the Doctor says, “I just miss her, Graham. And there was so much--too much--that I never got to say.”

When the silence has gone on for a time, he finally asks, “Who was she?”

“She was…” The Doctor falters.

Understanding floods Graham. “She was your Grace.”

The Doctor smiles at something--or probably some _ one _ , he amends--far away. Long ago and far away. “Something like that,” she says. There’s a wistfulness in her voice that Graham has never heard before.

He stands and starts to walk away. The Doctor looks puzzled, and more than a little hurt, until she sees him move to the armchair opposite her. Making himself comfortable, Graham says, “Tell me about her?”

A smile spreads across the Doctor’s face, bright and true.

“Her name,” she says, her eyes sparkling, “was Rose.”


End file.
